Eeton



(No Model.)

G. E. SWINERTON.

I LOGOMOTIVE DRIVING WHEEL.

No. 362,046. Patented Apr. 26, 1887.

K10 new v UNITED STATES.

PATENT ()FFICEO.

CHARLES E. SVVINERTON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

LOCOMOTIVE DRIVING-WHEEL.-

SPECIFICATION forming part (if Letters Patent No. 362,046, dated April 26, 1887.

Application filed September 9, 1886. Serial No. 213,077. (No modcl To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES EDWIN SWIN- ER'ION, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in the Driving-Wheels of Locomotives; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of the same.

My invention consists in polygonal drivingwheels forlocomotives, the said driving-wheels having plane surfaces or facets across their peripheries or treads to run upon the rails of,a railway.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a side view of a locomotive drivingwheel formed with polygonal angles upon its periphery or tread in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2, an edge view of the same; Fig. 3, a side view of a portion of the rim of a polygonal driving-wheel, on a larger scale, without a flange; Fig. 4, a face view of the same.

The wheel rim or tire A, instead of having a circular periphery or tread, as usual, is formed with a large number of plane facets, a a, across the periphery or tread, separated from one another by transverse angular lines I) b, the angles being of extreme obtuseness. These facets may properly vary from half an inch to two inches in breadth from angle to angle; but I do not limit myself to any special width thereof. A drivingwheel will have a large number of such facets around its periphery, so that the polygon formed thereby will approximate to a true circle, and yet each facet will present a plane surface to the rail and have frictional contact therewith to the extent of its entire width,whereas the circular wheeltread has only a tangential contact, theoretically a line, and practically scarcely of an appreciable width; hence the tractive power of the locomotive will be greatly increased by this polygonal form of the driving-wheel,while the departure from a circular form is so slight as to be nearly imperceptible as the locomotive passes over the rails.

The improvement is especially valuable in ascending grades of railways and when the rails are slippery with ice or water.

The facets may be cut or ground upon the driving wheels by very simple means, and without materially increasing the cost of the same.

I claim as my invention- The drivingwheels of locomotives, having a polygonal form, with plane surfaces or facets upon their peripheries or treads between the angles of the polygon, substantially as and for the purpose herein specified.

CHARLES E. SlVINERTON.

Witnesses JOHN L. SWINERTON, JAMES I. PARSONS. 

